Houchin, Evelyn, and Bill and Virginia Moles

ORAL HISTORY OF EVELYN HOUCHIN, BILL AND VIRGINIA MOLES
Interviewed by Don Hunnicutt
January 12, 2009
Transcribed by Jordan Reed
MR. HUNNICUTT: …2009. It is a Monday afternoon and I am here to interview, what is your name?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Evelyn Houchin.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And Evelyn, when did you come to Oak Ridge?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I worked a few weeks at K-25, but then I really went full time, June 12, 1944, for Tennessee Eastman.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And where did you live before you came to Oak Ridge.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I lived in Knoxville.
MR. HUNNICUTT: How did you hear about a job in Oak Ridge?
MRS. HOUCHIN: There was an ad wanting some cashiers and I went to the employment office on Union Avenue in Knoxville.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when you came to K-25, what was your first job assignment?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I was suppose to be a telephone operator, but it didn’t work out, switchboard.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So what did they have you doing after that?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I didn’t stay down there.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Oh, you didn’t stay. So where did you go next?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I, later, got in with Tennessee Eastman and got to work for Y-12.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What did you do at Y-12?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I was a cashier. I was over there before I was really supposed to be by age, but they saw my experience and they wanted me to come right away.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So where did you live when you came to Oak Ridge to work.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I commuted on a work bus from Knoxville.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where did you pick the bus up in Knoxville?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Down on Western Avenue, in front of Haus-Hassin. I lived on Forest Avenue.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And then they let you off where in Oak Ridge?
MRS. HOUCHIN: At our portal, at the North Gate.
MR. HUNNICUTT: At Y-12?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What do you remember about Y-12 when you worked out there?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, I wouldn’t give anything for coming along when I did. It was mud and I later remember when they built the boardwalks. At one time, they didn’t have the Central Portal and it was kind of a long haul from the North Gate all the way down to the West Gate. Later they built Central Portal.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You remember all the, did you have any idea what was going on out there when you were working?
MRS. HOUCHIN: No, I didn’t. I really didn’t.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when did you move? Did you ever move to Oak Ridge and live out here?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah, it was quite a long time later. I lived, moved and lived in Batavia Hall. I spent some time out here. I had lots of friends and we bowled and played softball, and that sort of thing. But I didn’t have a way back, because I didn’t have a car, of course, back then. But I lived in Batavia Hall for a long, long time, and then lived in a TDU [Temporary Dwelling Unit] that was hard to move out of down on the corner of Robertsville and Illinois, when they moved all those TDU’s on that side of the street.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where was Vitavia Hall located?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Right across the street from the TNC Cafeteria.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ok. So then you lived in a TDU. When did you meet your husband?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, he was a machinist at 9212 and he would come periodically through my line at the cafeteria. He knew a lot of the friends that I knew and they introduced me to him. That was in about, I’m guessing, ’57 probably.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So tell me about your experience, your roller skating experience at Meyer Brother’s Roller Rink.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, we had a great time, and I saw it advance quite a bit. Because at first it was a tent. They would give you a number and write your number and you skated so many minutes for a certain amount of money. When they called your tag number, you were suppose to pull your skates off. If you wanted to go to the restroom, we had to walk over to the Central Cafeteria because they didn’t have one. Later, he had to put one in, kind of in the back and made it more permanent, the sides, for the weather and everything. We just had a real good time. As time marched on, we had a guy by the name of Chapa, which was the floor manager and we had different groups for different skating classes. There were certain things we would do to advance up further. We just had a whole lot of time.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What was the name of the man who played the organ?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Dub Marrow [sp?].
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember him, tall man, wasn’t he?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Rather, yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: He floated around that rink like it was no effort. So you said you bowled. What else did you do for recreation?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, we bowled and then we went down Jefferson to hang out. Everybody did. Then we had a softball league over at Y-12 and we won the state one year. We went to Memphis and had to ride that hot bus. There wasn’t any air conditioning. I thought we would never get there, but we really had a lot of fun.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The dance hall you refer to at Jefferson. Tell me where that was located.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, it was right there, kind of at the corner of Robertsville Road. Then they later called it the Paragon. Of course, they had the Oak Terrace too. We had quite a few leading bands. Frances Craig was there one time. I know one of the cashiers played hooky so she could go to the dance with Frances Craig.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You remember the building that’s next to where the Jefferson shopping area was. It’s still there today. I think there’s a meat market in there. Do you ever remember what was in that building at one time? I know some years later it was a dance studio upstairs, but do you recall the building I’m talking about.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah, and I was trying to think what it was called, because one of my friends cashiered down there for a while.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, there was a theater there…
MRS. HOUCHIN: Jefferson.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Jefferson Theater and the Paragon Bowling Lanes was in there.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: But that building, we’re trying to kind of figure out what was in that building in the early days.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I think they called it the community store. I think they did. One of my friends that lives in Sweetwater, she cashiered there a while.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you think it was a grocery store to start with.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah. It was at one time a grocery store. I cashiered down there.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You lived in Oak Ridge ever since the day you moved here?
MRS. HOUCHIN: No. I left. I’m the only child and my mother was terminally ill and friends moved me back to Knoxville, in ’82, and I’ve been over there… she lived several years, but then I lost my mother and I continued to stay on. When I was pregnant in ’59, they didn’t have the same type of maternity benefits they do now and so I didn’t get to go back to Y-12 at that time. I worked in the Oak Ridge Hospital Admitting Office for about two years and then one day Carbide called and wanted to know if I would be interested in coming back. So I went back to ORNL [Oak Ridge National Laboratory]. They were going to build a second Food Lion over there. So I worked that from ’65 to ’73 and then I bid out into the stores department and worked there for, and then was in electronic stores for 10 years, and my last ten years I worked up at the Physics Division.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Sounds like you had an interesting life when you were here. I guess you remember all the mud when you were here.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yes, I do, and part of the time, before I did come back, it still had plenty of mud, but I worked at Pollock Shoe Store. We had to stay open late on Monday nights for the Oak Ridge people to come in with those synthetic soles and we would have to bag them up. They were thrilled enough to get to buy a new pair of shoes. They’d take their synthetic soled shoes back.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where was Pollock Shoe Store?
MRS. HOUCHIN: On the corner of Gay Street, straight across the street from the, at that time, Tennessee Coach Bus place.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Let’s go back a few years when you talked about catching the bus on Western Avenue. What time of the morning did the bus run?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, I don’t know exactly for day shift, but at that particular time, I was working the owl shift. I didn’t have to rotate each week like a lot of people, but whatever shift we were on at that time, the cashiers at one time, we had 75 cashiers, at Y-12, and we were on that shift straight. I worked the owl shift. I had to get in about 9:30 at night, due to the fact that it came through Town Site and picked up Roane Anderson guards, and then went on over there and got there a little bit early before time for my shift.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Was there a bus fare? Did you have to pay to ride the bus?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yes. It wasn’t much, but it was Kings Bus that came out through there. Then one time while I was working there, I lacked a little bit of school and I worked for a German and I told him that I might want to go back. So he worked it out where I worked seven hours a week and then I would have to walk from my house to Trailway Bus Station, but I went on and got my diploma.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you arrived on the bus in Oak Ridge, at the Y-12 plant, at the North Portal, is that correct?
MRS. HOUCHIN: It made all the portals, but I got off at the North Portal.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You worked at the cafeteria which was pretty close to the North Portal, to some degree, until they built Central Portal.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, we had a little long hitch in the weather to go down past that Ad [Administration] Building to the cafeteria, and of course, when they built the central parking lot, that made it a lot better, but I worked everywhere but in H area. We had three girls that worked out fine because their husbands rotated and they were scheduled and rotated in the H area. I even worked way down in what they call the west extension when it was hutments even, and we’d sell tickets, and then they would go up to this little building and get their food.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember who the manager was of the cafeteria?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, a Mr. Banks was kind of over the counter girls, but Mr. Quinlin [sp?], and Romy [sp?] Stallings was over all the cashiers.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You said you worked for Tennessee Eastman, tell me about them.
MRS. HOUCHIN: They didn’t stay. They didn’t wish to renew their contract after the war and it was the best company I ever worked for. They really had good benefits and they were really, just went out of their way for their employees.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Were you here in 1949 on March 19, when the gates opened?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Tell me where you were and what you witnessed.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, we had a skate club and I used to roller skate a lot, several of us. We had real a good time, and we had a float in that parade. The parade itself lasted three hours. We had a float and I skated. There were about, two, four, six of us that skated on that float, on March 19.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Now, what you read in the newspaper about the crowd, there were eight, ten deep on each side of the road. Does that sound right?
MRS. HOUCHIN: That’s exactly right. It was unreal.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You started down at Middletown there on the Turnpike, is that where you started?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I believe it was further west because there were trailers there and there were individual roads between that and we would have to line up on these different roads and then as it came on up the Turnpike. At the end of it, then we’d fall in. Our line would fall in and the wind was blowing and we thought we were going to freeze it was such a cold wind. The sun was shining, but after we got out to where we could move and skate on the float we warmed up okay.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Did you have a chance to see any of the movie stars?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: [Marie] McDonald, Jergins.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I had Rod Cameron’s address, I mean autograph somewhere at home, and Marie McDonald was there.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You didn’t happen to witness Rod Cameron falling off his horse, did you?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Didn’t see that.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The story goes that he had a bad hangover and couldn’t stay on his horse that morning.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I think she’d had a little nip too. [Laughter]
MR. HUNNICUTT: As the parade went up the Turnpike and got up into the Jackson Square area, what do you remember about that area up there with all the people and hoop-la?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, they were just four and five deep on each side and the parade, of course, was centrally located down the Turnpike. I think, now I may be wrong, but I think it broke up on down past, possibly where Fox Oldsmobile was, or maybe near Elza Gate. I’m not quite sure.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yes, at Fox on the corner of the Turnpike and Georgia, it kind of broke up, the route. Were you able to, or did you go to any of the other afternoon events, like the ceremony at Blankenship Field, or any of the luncheon, or even the banquet they had at the Oak Terrace that evening?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I don’t remember if any of us did. I don’t think that we did. I don’t think we went to any of those.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember they had a fashion show at the high school auditorium that afternoon as well? You didn’t attend that one either?
MRS. HOUCHIN: No, I heard they were having that, but we didn’t go. I don’t really know why, why some of us didn’t go to some of that. I just don’t remember any of it.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when the parade ended at the Turnpike and Georgia Avenue, how did you get back to wherever you were, after you got off the float, did someone take you back down to Middletown?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I don’t… I just don’t remember. I hadn’t moved in to the dorm yet and they. But I had friends because I didn’t have a car, that I was welcome to stay all night with, if something was going on at night, when there wasn’t a bus back. I guess probably some of us just probably ended up back down at the skating rink, would be my guess.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So where do you live in Oak Ridge now?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I live in Knoxville. After my mother died, I didn’t move back.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Would you tell me your name again?
MRS. HOUCHIN: My name is Evelyn Tucker and everybody called me Fizz.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, thank you, Evelyn, for your interview.
[Break in Audio]
MR. HUNNICUTT: It’s January 12, 2009. I’m here today to interview Bill Mole and his wife. M-O-L-E-S is the way he spells his last name. Bill, when did you come to Oak Ridge?
MR. MOLES: 1944.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Why did you come to Oak Ridge?
MR. MOLES: To live with my grandmother.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And why was your grandmother in Oak Ridge?
MR. MOLES: She had two daughters, and a son that was up here working. Two girls that were working, the son was going to school.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Working at one of the plants?
MR. MOLES: One of them worked for Stone and Webster, and one worked for…
MRS. MOLES: Roane Anderson.
MR. MOLES: …Roane Anderson housing.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember where that address you lived with your grandmother was?
MR. MOLES: Yes. 411 East Drive.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And what type of house did you live?
MR. MOLES: A three bedroom flattop.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So, did you go to the Oak Ridge school system?
MR. MOLES: I did and graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1946.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So where was your first school that you attended?
MR. MOLES: The first one…
MR. HUNNICUTT: In Oak Ridge.
MR. MOLES: The high school.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ok. So you came as a high schooler then.
MR. MOLES: Yeah, I came as a high schooler.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And the high school was located up in the Jackson Square area…
MR. MOLES: Yep.
MR. HUNNICUTT: …up on top of the hill by the football field.
MR. MOLES: At the top of the wooden steps.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Right. What do you vividly remember about Oak Ridge in the early days?
MR. MOLES: Coming from down in the country where I come from, it was exciting.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where did you come from, down in the country?
MR. MOLES: Somewhere close to Monterey and Cookeville, Jamestown, down in that area.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What about the mud? Did we have mud in Oak Ridge in those days?
MR. MOLES: Oh yeah. Plenty of mud. Plenty of mud.
MR. HUNNICUTT: As a young man going to high school, what did you do for recreation?
MR. MOLES: Well, there wasn’t much recreation at that time, as far as I was concerned. I was going to school and I was working at the Grove Theater.
MR. HUNNICUTT: As an usher at the Grove Theater?
MR. MOLES: As an usher at the Grove Theater.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Is that you, that’s not you that’s standing out front in the photograph?
MR. MOLES: No, that’s a good friend of mine, Leonard Bowers.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember who was the manager at the Grove Theater when he was there?
MR. MOLES: Ed Booth was the manager and he had, Walter Morris was over all the theaters here. Well, he wasn’t over Midtown and one in K-25.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Down in Happy Valley?
MR. MOLES: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So the Grove Theater, the Ridge, and the Jefferson. Was he over those three?
MR. MOLES: Center.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And the Center Theater, that’s right.
MR. MOLES: The Center.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you worked at the theater. How long did you work at the theater?
MR. MOLES: Until I went into the Navy in ’46.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you were in the Navy for how long?
MR. MOLES: Two years.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You came back to Oak Ridge afterwards?
MR. MOLES: Yeah. And for recreation, took up skating.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when you came back out of the Navy, where did you live?
MR. MOLES: I came back out of the Navy, I lived in 125 West Gettysburg Avenue.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Who did you live with then?
MR. MOLES: My grandmother and mother.
MR. HUNNICUTT: When did you meet your wife?
MR. MOLES: Good question. We knew each other from days that she worked at the Community Store Number One in Jackson Square, but she went off to Atlanta to work. It wasn’t until we came back and there was just a crowd of us that would run around up at the Snow White, drive around the Snow White.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Tell us where the Snow White Drive-In was located.
MR. MOLES: Where the Snow White was? It was very close to the dental building, which is not there anymore.
MR. HUNNICUTT: That’s across the street from where the Chrysler dealership is now.
MR. MOLES: That’s right. It’s across the street from that.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember the name of the dry cleaners that was next door?
MR. MOLES: New York.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ahh, good memory. [Laughter]
MRS. MOLES: What’s his name that…?
MR. HUNNICUTT: Warren was his name that owned the dry cleaner.
MR. MOLES: Yeah.
MRS. MOLES: George Warren.
MR. HUNNICUTT: George Warren.
MR. MOLES: Yeah, but we ran around together as a group. We later sort of started dating ourselves and we dated for five years before we got married.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Want to make sure you knew each other.
MR. MOLES: Right. That’s exactly right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Or she knew you.
MR. MOLES: She didn’t know how to say yes until we got out of school.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when you talk about running around, what does that mean? Recreation, or just finding things to do.
MR. MOLES: We enjoyed going to plays.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where were the plays located?
MR. MOLES: In Crossville, most of them. Of course, they had plays and different things here in Oak Ridge. Ted Lehman [sp?]…
MRS. MOLES: Oak Ridge Playhouse.
MR. MOLES: … had, I forget what you call it. I can’t think of what you call it, but it’s sort of slapstick comedy in a lot of them.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yeah. So what were you doing for work at that time? Where did you work?
MR. MOLES: Well, I came out of the Navy and was going to school in the Navy at UT [University of Tennessee]. Then when my Navy ran out I went to Y-12 and started working at Y-12.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What did you do at Y-12?
MR. MOLES: I was a junior accountant and worked in payroll and…
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember what year that was?
MR. MOLES: I was in payroll, timekeeping payroll from 1952 to 1963, I guess. Something like that. Then I went to work for a fellow by the name of Clyde Hopkins in 1963.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I believe everyone knows Clyde Hopkins, that was in Oak Ridge.
MR. MOLES: He and I hired in about the same time. In fact, it was right up…
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when did you retire?
MR. MOLES:’93.
MR. HUNNICUTT: From Y-12?
MR. MOLES: No, from K-25. I worked for 42 years, 7 months and 13 days at the plants. Half of it was at Y-12 and half of it at K-25.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Were you in Oak Ridge during the 1949 gate opening ceremony?
MR. MOLES: Yes, I was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: As a matter of fact, you were on one of the floats that rode in the parade, is that right?
MR. MOLES: I was on one of the floats, yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Tell me about that float and what it was.
MR. MOLES: The float?
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yes.
MR. MOLES: The float was on the back of truck that belonged to Lacey Meyers who owned the skating rink. He owned several temporary rinks. In other words, they were just set up, put together. You could take them apart and move them to another town. That was all it was down on the corner, where the Citizens Bank is now.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The Turnpike and Jefferson.
MR. MOLES: The Turnpike and Jefferson. Close to the old Jefferson Cafeteria.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember that well. So you did a lot of skating in your younger days?
MR. MOLES: No. I just took it up after I come back out of the Navy.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Oh, I see.
MR. MOLES: Just, it was something to do, give me an outing.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So…
MR. MOLES: I was going to tell you when we were talking about the Snow White. It really wasn’t built as the Snow White. It was built for the, titled, named the Flingo.
MRS. MOLES: Flamingo.
MR. MOLES: Flamingo.
MR. HUNNICUTT: We’ve heard it as the Peacock. The Peacock.
MRS. MOLES: There was a Peacock and a Flamingo.
MR. MOLES: It was the Peacock.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The Peacock Lodge.
MR. MOLES: The Peacock Lodge.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The Peacock Lounge.
MR. MOLES: The Peacock Lounge, yeah. And there’s one off of where the Garden Apartments are now, on top of the hill. The L&A Club.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yes. Now I understand, talking about Snow White, that there was a gentleman that came by the Secret City Festival in ’08 and told us that, or it was a lady, that her father had named the Snow White. There was a contest that went on. Do you know anything about that? How the Snow White got its name, Snow White?
MR. MOLES: No, the man, John…
MRS. MOLES: Sparks owned it.
MR. MOLES: Sparks owned it. He had a whole bunch of Snow White dwarfs.
MRS. MOLES: He had some restaurants in Knoxville called the Dwarfs restaurants.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Right.
MR. MOLES: Yeah. And down there across, on the Turnpike was the Atoms Cafeteria.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where was that located?
MR. MOLES: It was across the street from the Garden Apartments, down…
MR. HUNNICUTT: About where the Girls Club and that area is today.
MR. MOLES: A little farther east than that, but that’s where it was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Let’s go back to the parade and when you were on that float skating. How cold was it that day?
MR. MOLES: I didn’t notice it. I was skating.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, your partner that I interviewed, Fizz, said she like to froze to death before she got there.
MR. MOLES: It was cold. It was cold, but it didn’t bother me. It really didn’t bother me.
[Inaudible background talk]
MR. HUNNICUTT: It was March 19. So I noticed from the pictures, that you guys, everybody that was on the float did a circle swing around with each partner, some sort of skating maneuver. How hard was that to do on the back of that flatbed truck?
MR. MOLES: Well, no faster than they were, the parade was moving, it wasn’t any trouble. It’s a matter of balance to start with.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, that parade was about three miles long and I understand it was about two hours to do it.
MR. MOLES: Yeah. It was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I guess she was glad it was over.
MR. MOLES: I was glad that it was over. I was instrumental in starting the Ridge Roller Club, which those pictures we were looking at were… I appointed people to work on the float and it’s in a write up.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember who the truck driver was, or the float driver?
MR. MOLES: Not unless it was Ted… I don’t know. I really don’t know.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ok.
MR. MOLES: It was one of the skaters… What was Ted’s last name?
MRS. MOLES: [inaudible]
MR. MOLES: No, I can’t remember what Ted’s last name was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, maybe it’ll come to you. So after the parade commenced, did you have an opportunity to go to any of the other events that day?
MR. MOLES: No.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Pretty well tied up.
MR. MOLES: Tied up.
[Break in audio]
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ok. Now I’m going to interview the lady of the hour, Bill’s wife. Would you tell me your maiden name?
MRS. MOLES: Virginia Elrod Moles.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And when did you come to Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLES: In the fall of 1943.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And did you come with your parents?
MRS. MOLES: With my parents.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Did they come to work at Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLES: My dad was working here in Oak Ridge. He had come to Oak Ridge in ’42 with the surveyors Odessel [sp?] and Grove [sp?].
MR. HUNNICUTT: Interesting. Where did you live when you came to Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLES: We lived in trailer 6 on the hill where the Garden Apartments are.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What do you remember about the trailer camp number 6?
MRS. MOLES: The thing that is most vivid in my mind is that you had to go to a bath house to take your baths, you had to go to a bath house for all your other personal needs. No restrooms in those trailers. I mean no bathrooms in those trailers.
MR. HUNNICUTT: How many of you were in the trailer?
MRS. MOLES: My two parents and four children.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Wow! You kind of stacked up on each other when you slept then.
MRS. MOLES: We had what was called a double wide, but it’s really three times the width of a regular trailer.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So how long did you live in trailer camp number six?
MRS. MOLES: About a year, until they moved enough flattops in that my dad got us a flattop at 101 Indian Lane.
MR. HUNNICUTT: How big a flattop was that?
MRS. MOLES: It was a two bedroom flattop.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Still cramped for space.
MRS. MOLES: Still cramped for space.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, did you have indoor facilities in the flattop?
MRS. MOLES: We had indoor facilities in the flattop.
MR. HUNNICUTT: If I remember right, there was a round stove that sat kind of in the middle of the floor for heating, wasn’t there?
MRS. MOLES: Right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And air conditioning: you opened the doors and windows.
MRS. MOLES: Right, right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you lived on Indian Lane and what, were you going to school at that time?
MRS. MOLES: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What school did you attend?
MRS. MOLES: I attended Robertsville School, which became Jefferson Junior High and then it’s back now to Robertsville Junior High.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you attended the old Robertsville School…
MRS. MOLES: Elementary school, yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: …and they had, had they added on part of the section to that?
MRS. MOLES: They did after I started school there.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So, then it became Jefferson Junior High and you attended Jefferson Junior the whole time there?
MRS. MOLES: Yes. I went from the seventh through the ninth. It became a Junior High the year I was to go into the ninth grade. So I attended on through the ninth grade at the same school.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So then you went to the high school located in Jackson Square…
MRS. MOLES: Right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: …by the football field.
MRS. MOLES: Right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So did you ever work anytime you were in Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLES: I worked while I was in high school at Community Store number one, grocery store in Jackson Square.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What do you remember about working at Community Store number one? Anything odd happen, or strange?
MRS. MOLES: Not really. It was just always crowded. It was always very busy. Very busy.
MR. HUNNICUTT: There were rationing stamps for various things. Do you remember those?
MRS. MOLES: I think that had already gone. I don’t think we had to deal with that.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What was your job at the Community Store?
MRS. MOLES: I ran the cash register.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You remember how many cash registers there were?
MRS. MOLES: Well, there was six.
MR. MOLES: At least six.
MRS. MOLES: There were at least six, may be eight.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you think there was six or eight check out lines in the store.
MRS. MOLES: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: When you first went in the door, the main door, which way did you go to go to the meat counter?
MRS. MOLES: It was in the back.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The very back.
MRS. MOLES: In the very back.
MR. HUNNICUTT: We’re trying to identify some inside shots of certain grocery stores.
MRS. MOLES: Yeah. I can see it exactly. You came in and you went around by the elevator type thing, and the meat counter was across the back. Produce was down on the end, which is where that coffee shop is now. The produce was down on that end.
MR. HUNNICUTT: It would be on the side of the…
MRS. MOLES: The doors were along where, on the side where the parking lot is in Jackson Square.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So, if you lived on Indian Lane and you worked at the Community Store in Jackson Square, that’s a pretty good piece away. How did you, did you ride the bus to get there?
MRS. MOLES: Rode number six bus.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Number six.
MRS. MOLES: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember what the fare was?
MRS. MOLES: One token. I don’t remember how much we paid for the tokens though. We’ve still got some of those. We still have some tokens.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Great. Is that the only place you worked?
MRS. MOLES: No. I worked at the telephone company later.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And where was the telephone company located then?
MR. MOLE: Close to the…
MRS. MOLE: Close to, what is now the new post office.
MR. HUNNICUTT: That is Milan Way.
MRS. MOLE: Is that Milan Way?
MR. MOLE: That is Milan Way.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The building was on Milan Way. What did you do for the telephone company?
MRS. MOLE: I was an operator.
MR. HUNNICUTT: An operator. So how long did you work for the telephone company?
MRS. MOLE: A little over seven years.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, the big question: where did you meet your husband?
MRS. MOLE: Like he said, we didn’t really meet, we just sort of got to know each other. We were never formally introduced, as far as really meeting each other. We just got to know each other through congregating down at the Snow White Drive-In.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You remember those good ol’ hamburgers they used to have at the Snow White?
MRS. MOLE: I sure do.
MR. HUNNICUTT: If I remember right there was a man that was a cook that worked behind the counter on the grill and they called him Red. Do you remember that, a cook by the name of Red?
MRS. MOLE: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I was just a little boy, but I used to go in there with my mother and he would really fix those little hamburgers.
MR. MOLE: He was a real slim…
MR. HUNNICUTT: Short, right.
MRS. MOLE: Nothing like those little Snow White hamburgers. Krystal don’t come anywhere close to what those…
MR. MOLE: The big difference is the onions.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, they used fresh meat. You remember they had a little round ball of meat, you got out of that cooler on the side and he would put it on there with a big gob, handful of onions and mash that down. Then they would put the buns on the top and steam the buns. Oh, I could just taste them now.
MRS. MOLE: You could smell them for…
MR. HUNNICUTT: They had pretty good plate lunches in there, if I remember right.
MR. MOLE: Yeah. They did. You know there wasn’t really but one restaurant, which was the Mayflower, that was around. The Elks got into the business and had a, it was down in East Village.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, the Oak Terrace had a restaurant in the bottom…
MR. MOLE: Oak Terrace.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember that pretty well.
MR. MOLE: You’re right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: A man named Rosco Stevens ran that.
MR. MOLE: He bought it out, a half out from Shoemaker to try to start Shoney’s.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Shaunbaugh [sp?].
MR. MOLE: Shoenbaun [sp?, different pronunciation].
MRS. MOLE: Shoenbaun.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Shoenbaun.
MR. MOLE: He was half interested and Shoemaker was half interested.
MRS. MOLE: He started, Shoenbaun started Shoney’s.
MR. MOLE: He was from West Virginia.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, you guys met in Oak Ridge and you chummed around with your pals and you finally got serious about each other. When did you get married?
MRS. MOLE: June 17, 1956 at Kern Memorial Methodist Church.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Isn’t that something? Did you remember that, Bill? [Laughter]
MR. MOLE: Seemed like…
MRS. MOLE: I’m glad you didn’t ask him that question.
MR. MOLE: I’m glad you didn’t ask me that question. [Laughter]
MR. HUNNICUTT: You would have been in the doghouse the rest of the day.
MR. MOLE: Anniversaries are awful hard to remember.
MRS. MOLE: 52 years this past June.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, that’s a great milestone. So you got married at Kern and where did you live?
MRS. MOLE: We lived at 104 Robin Lane for 10 years.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And what type of house was that?
MRS. MOLE: It was called a Title Nine house. It’s still there.
MR. MOLE: We bought the house, but rented the land.
MRS. MOLE: We couldn’t buy the land that it set on.
MR. MOLE: We leased the land.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember them building those. They called them East Village and West Village houses, but they were Title Nine. That was the correct name. So you couldn’t buy the land. When were you able to buy the land?
MR. MOLE: Three or four years later. I don’t remember exactly. It was two or three years later. They opened it up for you to buy land.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Give me the date again that you bought the house.
MRS. MOLE: We actually bought the house in February of ’56 before we got married in June of ’56. And we lived there 10 and a half years. Then we moved to 114 East Geneva Lane. We lived there almost 25, I guess 24 years. And we moved to 130 Whippoorwill Drive. That’s where we now reside.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when you lived on East Geneva, what type of cemesto house was that?
MRS. MOLE: D.
MR. HUNNICUTT: A D house.
MR. MOLE: It was, a little historic fact on that. B.B Hopkins…
MR. HUNNICUTT: B.B. Hopkins lived in it before you did?
MRS. MOLE: Yes. It was the old B.B. Hopkins home.
MR. MOLE: We got some fellow that bought it and remodeled the whole thing.
MRS. MOLE: It was an enlarged D house.
MR. MOLE: In doing so, he went bankrupt. We picked it up from the…
MRS. MOLE: Bank.
MR. MOLE: …Bank of Oak Ridge.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So, the person that did all the remodeling went belly up and you were able to pick it up.
MR. MOLE: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Oh, that’s good. So how many children do you guys have?
MRS. MOLE: We have two. We have a son. I guess he’s 51 years old now. His name is William Amon Moles II. We have a daughter, Melissa Lee Moles Neusel.
MR. MOLE: You ever heard the word Neusel?
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yes, I have. I sure have. I believe I know exactly who you’re talking about.
MRS. MOLE: David Neusel, our son-in-law.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So how many grandchildren do you have?
MRS. MOLE: We have only one grandson, one grandchild, a grandson, and it’s our son’s. Jackson Lee Moles.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do they live, do each one of them live in the area?
MRS. MOLE: They both live in West Knoxville, both our daughter and our son.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So thinking back about the early days of Oak Ridge, what do you remember vivid about Oak Ridge? What did you not like?
MRS. MOLE: What did I not like? Well, I didn’t like having to get out in all the mud that was everywhere. I couldn’t get it out of the house. You couldn’t get it out of the car. It was just mud everywhere. We had these big bulldozers just sitting around to pull people out of the mud. You were going to get stuck every time you went out, in the car, for sure. Those big bulldozers were just parked around so they could pull you out of the mud when you got stuck.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Speaking of cars, what was the first car you had while you were in Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLE: My dad’s car?
MR. HUNNICUTT: No, the first car that you two guys had as a couple.
MR. MOLE: I had bought a red convertible from Lacey Meyers who owned the skating rink. He had the Pontiac dealership in Hazzard, Kentucky, and I bought it. So we had that when, she had bought a ’55 Nash Rambler.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Did you buy it in Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLE: I bought it in Oak Ridge, brand new.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember the name of the dealership you bought it from?
MRS. MOLE: No, but I remember how much I paid for it: $1,700.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And what year would that have been?
MRS. MOLE: 1955.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Would that have been Crowe and O’Connor Motors, by any chance?
MRS. MOLE: I bet it was, yes.
MR. MOLE: Yes.
MRS. MOLE: Yes. That rings a bell, but I wouldn’t have, I didn’t remember it.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Mr. O’Connor lived next to me.
MRS. MOLE: Did he?
MR. HUNNICUTT: We grew up together, his son and I, his kids.
MRS. MOLE: That’s who it was.
MR. MOLE: That’s who it was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, I thank you very much for you memories and history. Is there anything else you would like to talk about related to early Oak Ridge?
MR. MOLE: No, except that, there is nothing about Oak Ridge I don’t like. Something I disagree with, but as far as not liking it…
MRS. MOLE: It’s home to me because I came here as a 12-year-old.
MR. MOLE: I have no desire to move out and go… I have more friends that moved out and then move back, than moved out and stayed, I believe.
MR. HUNNICUTT: One other quick question: what do either of you remember about coming through the gates? Do you remember anything about passes or anything of that nature?
MRS. MOLE: We still have, I still have my last pass, badge to get in and out of the gates. I still have it.
MR. MOLE: I worked for the theaters for a while, when Mr. Belvel [sp?] was manager. When they closed, they closed the Jefferson down. I managed the Grove, night managed the Grove, not business, just being there and managing activity. I was involved when we opened the theater to the blacks. I was the manager who was letting them in the theater.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Interesting. Interesting.
MRS. MOLE: Scary.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I bet.
MR. MOLE: He was an Oak Ridger. He was on the council, and the name of the movie was Exodus.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember when they had the protest down at Jefferson, at the laundrymat there.
MR. MOLE: Yeah. I’ve got some, we’ve got some eight millimeter film on that.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, those are times that go through the changes in life. Oak Ridge wasn’t exempt from any of it.
MR. MOLE: No. No, it wasn’t, but people get mad at it and I guess sort of snub their nose at Oak Ridgers and all. I wouldn’t move for anything.
MRS. MOLE: One thought that comes to mind when we first came to Oak Ridge and lived in Trailer Camp Six. On Saturday mornings, they furnished a bus that would bring in all the kids to the Grove Theater and for nine cents you could see a movie trailer. I guess you would call it, because it was a… I guess you would call it, what was it when…?
MR. MOLE: Serial.
MRS. MOLE: When they carried it from one week to the next.
MR. MOLE: Show to show.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Right. It’s a serial film.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You saw part and came the next week.
MRS. MOLE: Came the next week and seen another part.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Right.
MRS. MOLE: Of course, it was always really crowded because all the kids would pile on those buses and bring them down to the theater. For nine cents, you could get in and see. They would usually have some other things going on other than that, but cartoons and that was the main thing.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, you know Oak Ridge was a secure place and parents let their kids go places like you’re talking about. No one was worried about murder and theft.
MR. MOLE: Oh no.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Although those things happened, you didn’t, you weren’t worried about it.
MR. MOLE: There was very seldom anything that was contrary to our passive life. You just, it was just normal to do whatever you wanted to do, go wherever you wanted to go.
MRS. MOLE: We lived in the flattop at 101 Indian Lane for 10 and a half years, I guess. It may have been longer than that. I guess it was like 15 years, more like 15, and so far as I know, we never…
[End of Interview]

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ORAL HISTORY OF EVELYN HOUCHIN, BILL AND VIRGINIA MOLES
Interviewed by Don Hunnicutt
January 12, 2009
Transcribed by Jordan Reed
MR. HUNNICUTT: …2009. It is a Monday afternoon and I am here to interview, what is your name?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Evelyn Houchin.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And Evelyn, when did you come to Oak Ridge?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I worked a few weeks at K-25, but then I really went full time, June 12, 1944, for Tennessee Eastman.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And where did you live before you came to Oak Ridge.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I lived in Knoxville.
MR. HUNNICUTT: How did you hear about a job in Oak Ridge?
MRS. HOUCHIN: There was an ad wanting some cashiers and I went to the employment office on Union Avenue in Knoxville.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when you came to K-25, what was your first job assignment?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I was suppose to be a telephone operator, but it didn’t work out, switchboard.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So what did they have you doing after that?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I didn’t stay down there.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Oh, you didn’t stay. So where did you go next?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I, later, got in with Tennessee Eastman and got to work for Y-12.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What did you do at Y-12?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I was a cashier. I was over there before I was really supposed to be by age, but they saw my experience and they wanted me to come right away.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So where did you live when you came to Oak Ridge to work.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I commuted on a work bus from Knoxville.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where did you pick the bus up in Knoxville?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Down on Western Avenue, in front of Haus-Hassin. I lived on Forest Avenue.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And then they let you off where in Oak Ridge?
MRS. HOUCHIN: At our portal, at the North Gate.
MR. HUNNICUTT: At Y-12?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What do you remember about Y-12 when you worked out there?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, I wouldn’t give anything for coming along when I did. It was mud and I later remember when they built the boardwalks. At one time, they didn’t have the Central Portal and it was kind of a long haul from the North Gate all the way down to the West Gate. Later they built Central Portal.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You remember all the, did you have any idea what was going on out there when you were working?
MRS. HOUCHIN: No, I didn’t. I really didn’t.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when did you move? Did you ever move to Oak Ridge and live out here?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah, it was quite a long time later. I lived, moved and lived in Batavia Hall. I spent some time out here. I had lots of friends and we bowled and played softball, and that sort of thing. But I didn’t have a way back, because I didn’t have a car, of course, back then. But I lived in Batavia Hall for a long, long time, and then lived in a TDU [Temporary Dwelling Unit] that was hard to move out of down on the corner of Robertsville and Illinois, when they moved all those TDU’s on that side of the street.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where was Vitavia Hall located?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Right across the street from the TNC Cafeteria.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ok. So then you lived in a TDU. When did you meet your husband?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, he was a machinist at 9212 and he would come periodically through my line at the cafeteria. He knew a lot of the friends that I knew and they introduced me to him. That was in about, I’m guessing, ’57 probably.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So tell me about your experience, your roller skating experience at Meyer Brother’s Roller Rink.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, we had a great time, and I saw it advance quite a bit. Because at first it was a tent. They would give you a number and write your number and you skated so many minutes for a certain amount of money. When they called your tag number, you were suppose to pull your skates off. If you wanted to go to the restroom, we had to walk over to the Central Cafeteria because they didn’t have one. Later, he had to put one in, kind of in the back and made it more permanent, the sides, for the weather and everything. We just had a real good time. As time marched on, we had a guy by the name of Chapa, which was the floor manager and we had different groups for different skating classes. There were certain things we would do to advance up further. We just had a whole lot of time.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What was the name of the man who played the organ?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Dub Marrow [sp?].
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember him, tall man, wasn’t he?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Rather, yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: He floated around that rink like it was no effort. So you said you bowled. What else did you do for recreation?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, we bowled and then we went down Jefferson to hang out. Everybody did. Then we had a softball league over at Y-12 and we won the state one year. We went to Memphis and had to ride that hot bus. There wasn’t any air conditioning. I thought we would never get there, but we really had a lot of fun.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The dance hall you refer to at Jefferson. Tell me where that was located.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, it was right there, kind of at the corner of Robertsville Road. Then they later called it the Paragon. Of course, they had the Oak Terrace too. We had quite a few leading bands. Frances Craig was there one time. I know one of the cashiers played hooky so she could go to the dance with Frances Craig.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You remember the building that’s next to where the Jefferson shopping area was. It’s still there today. I think there’s a meat market in there. Do you ever remember what was in that building at one time? I know some years later it was a dance studio upstairs, but do you recall the building I’m talking about.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah, and I was trying to think what it was called, because one of my friends cashiered down there for a while.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, there was a theater there…
MRS. HOUCHIN: Jefferson.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Jefferson Theater and the Paragon Bowling Lanes was in there.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: But that building, we’re trying to kind of figure out what was in that building in the early days.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I think they called it the community store. I think they did. One of my friends that lives in Sweetwater, she cashiered there a while.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you think it was a grocery store to start with.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah. It was at one time a grocery store. I cashiered down there.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You lived in Oak Ridge ever since the day you moved here?
MRS. HOUCHIN: No. I left. I’m the only child and my mother was terminally ill and friends moved me back to Knoxville, in ’82, and I’ve been over there… she lived several years, but then I lost my mother and I continued to stay on. When I was pregnant in ’59, they didn’t have the same type of maternity benefits they do now and so I didn’t get to go back to Y-12 at that time. I worked in the Oak Ridge Hospital Admitting Office for about two years and then one day Carbide called and wanted to know if I would be interested in coming back. So I went back to ORNL [Oak Ridge National Laboratory]. They were going to build a second Food Lion over there. So I worked that from ’65 to ’73 and then I bid out into the stores department and worked there for, and then was in electronic stores for 10 years, and my last ten years I worked up at the Physics Division.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Sounds like you had an interesting life when you were here. I guess you remember all the mud when you were here.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yes, I do, and part of the time, before I did come back, it still had plenty of mud, but I worked at Pollock Shoe Store. We had to stay open late on Monday nights for the Oak Ridge people to come in with those synthetic soles and we would have to bag them up. They were thrilled enough to get to buy a new pair of shoes. They’d take their synthetic soled shoes back.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where was Pollock Shoe Store?
MRS. HOUCHIN: On the corner of Gay Street, straight across the street from the, at that time, Tennessee Coach Bus place.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Let’s go back a few years when you talked about catching the bus on Western Avenue. What time of the morning did the bus run?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, I don’t know exactly for day shift, but at that particular time, I was working the owl shift. I didn’t have to rotate each week like a lot of people, but whatever shift we were on at that time, the cashiers at one time, we had 75 cashiers, at Y-12, and we were on that shift straight. I worked the owl shift. I had to get in about 9:30 at night, due to the fact that it came through Town Site and picked up Roane Anderson guards, and then went on over there and got there a little bit early before time for my shift.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Was there a bus fare? Did you have to pay to ride the bus?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yes. It wasn’t much, but it was Kings Bus that came out through there. Then one time while I was working there, I lacked a little bit of school and I worked for a German and I told him that I might want to go back. So he worked it out where I worked seven hours a week and then I would have to walk from my house to Trailway Bus Station, but I went on and got my diploma.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you arrived on the bus in Oak Ridge, at the Y-12 plant, at the North Portal, is that correct?
MRS. HOUCHIN: It made all the portals, but I got off at the North Portal.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You worked at the cafeteria which was pretty close to the North Portal, to some degree, until they built Central Portal.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, we had a little long hitch in the weather to go down past that Ad [Administration] Building to the cafeteria, and of course, when they built the central parking lot, that made it a lot better, but I worked everywhere but in H area. We had three girls that worked out fine because their husbands rotated and they were scheduled and rotated in the H area. I even worked way down in what they call the west extension when it was hutments even, and we’d sell tickets, and then they would go up to this little building and get their food.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember who the manager was of the cafeteria?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, a Mr. Banks was kind of over the counter girls, but Mr. Quinlin [sp?], and Romy [sp?] Stallings was over all the cashiers.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You said you worked for Tennessee Eastman, tell me about them.
MRS. HOUCHIN: They didn’t stay. They didn’t wish to renew their contract after the war and it was the best company I ever worked for. They really had good benefits and they were really, just went out of their way for their employees.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Were you here in 1949 on March 19, when the gates opened?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Tell me where you were and what you witnessed.
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, we had a skate club and I used to roller skate a lot, several of us. We had real a good time, and we had a float in that parade. The parade itself lasted three hours. We had a float and I skated. There were about, two, four, six of us that skated on that float, on March 19.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Now, what you read in the newspaper about the crowd, there were eight, ten deep on each side of the road. Does that sound right?
MRS. HOUCHIN: That’s exactly right. It was unreal.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You started down at Middletown there on the Turnpike, is that where you started?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I believe it was further west because there were trailers there and there were individual roads between that and we would have to line up on these different roads and then as it came on up the Turnpike. At the end of it, then we’d fall in. Our line would fall in and the wind was blowing and we thought we were going to freeze it was such a cold wind. The sun was shining, but after we got out to where we could move and skate on the float we warmed up okay.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Did you have a chance to see any of the movie stars?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: [Marie] McDonald, Jergins.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I had Rod Cameron’s address, I mean autograph somewhere at home, and Marie McDonald was there.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You didn’t happen to witness Rod Cameron falling off his horse, did you?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Didn’t see that.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The story goes that he had a bad hangover and couldn’t stay on his horse that morning.
MRS. HOUCHIN: I think she’d had a little nip too. [Laughter]
MR. HUNNICUTT: As the parade went up the Turnpike and got up into the Jackson Square area, what do you remember about that area up there with all the people and hoop-la?
MRS. HOUCHIN: Well, they were just four and five deep on each side and the parade, of course, was centrally located down the Turnpike. I think, now I may be wrong, but I think it broke up on down past, possibly where Fox Oldsmobile was, or maybe near Elza Gate. I’m not quite sure.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yes, at Fox on the corner of the Turnpike and Georgia, it kind of broke up, the route. Were you able to, or did you go to any of the other afternoon events, like the ceremony at Blankenship Field, or any of the luncheon, or even the banquet they had at the Oak Terrace that evening?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I don’t remember if any of us did. I don’t think that we did. I don’t think we went to any of those.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember they had a fashion show at the high school auditorium that afternoon as well? You didn’t attend that one either?
MRS. HOUCHIN: No, I heard they were having that, but we didn’t go. I don’t really know why, why some of us didn’t go to some of that. I just don’t remember any of it.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when the parade ended at the Turnpike and Georgia Avenue, how did you get back to wherever you were, after you got off the float, did someone take you back down to Middletown?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I don’t… I just don’t remember. I hadn’t moved in to the dorm yet and they. But I had friends because I didn’t have a car, that I was welcome to stay all night with, if something was going on at night, when there wasn’t a bus back. I guess probably some of us just probably ended up back down at the skating rink, would be my guess.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So where do you live in Oak Ridge now?
MRS. HOUCHIN: I live in Knoxville. After my mother died, I didn’t move back.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Would you tell me your name again?
MRS. HOUCHIN: My name is Evelyn Tucker and everybody called me Fizz.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, thank you, Evelyn, for your interview.
[Break in Audio]
MR. HUNNICUTT: It’s January 12, 2009. I’m here today to interview Bill Mole and his wife. M-O-L-E-S is the way he spells his last name. Bill, when did you come to Oak Ridge?
MR. MOLES: 1944.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Why did you come to Oak Ridge?
MR. MOLES: To live with my grandmother.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And why was your grandmother in Oak Ridge?
MR. MOLES: She had two daughters, and a son that was up here working. Two girls that were working, the son was going to school.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Working at one of the plants?
MR. MOLES: One of them worked for Stone and Webster, and one worked for…
MRS. MOLES: Roane Anderson.
MR. MOLES: …Roane Anderson housing.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember where that address you lived with your grandmother was?
MR. MOLES: Yes. 411 East Drive.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And what type of house did you live?
MR. MOLES: A three bedroom flattop.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So, did you go to the Oak Ridge school system?
MR. MOLES: I did and graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1946.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So where was your first school that you attended?
MR. MOLES: The first one…
MR. HUNNICUTT: In Oak Ridge.
MR. MOLES: The high school.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ok. So you came as a high schooler then.
MR. MOLES: Yeah, I came as a high schooler.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And the high school was located up in the Jackson Square area…
MR. MOLES: Yep.
MR. HUNNICUTT: …up on top of the hill by the football field.
MR. MOLES: At the top of the wooden steps.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Right. What do you vividly remember about Oak Ridge in the early days?
MR. MOLES: Coming from down in the country where I come from, it was exciting.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where did you come from, down in the country?
MR. MOLES: Somewhere close to Monterey and Cookeville, Jamestown, down in that area.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What about the mud? Did we have mud in Oak Ridge in those days?
MR. MOLES: Oh yeah. Plenty of mud. Plenty of mud.
MR. HUNNICUTT: As a young man going to high school, what did you do for recreation?
MR. MOLES: Well, there wasn’t much recreation at that time, as far as I was concerned. I was going to school and I was working at the Grove Theater.
MR. HUNNICUTT: As an usher at the Grove Theater?
MR. MOLES: As an usher at the Grove Theater.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Is that you, that’s not you that’s standing out front in the photograph?
MR. MOLES: No, that’s a good friend of mine, Leonard Bowers.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember who was the manager at the Grove Theater when he was there?
MR. MOLES: Ed Booth was the manager and he had, Walter Morris was over all the theaters here. Well, he wasn’t over Midtown and one in K-25.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Down in Happy Valley?
MR. MOLES: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So the Grove Theater, the Ridge, and the Jefferson. Was he over those three?
MR. MOLES: Center.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And the Center Theater, that’s right.
MR. MOLES: The Center.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you worked at the theater. How long did you work at the theater?
MR. MOLES: Until I went into the Navy in ’46.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you were in the Navy for how long?
MR. MOLES: Two years.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You came back to Oak Ridge afterwards?
MR. MOLES: Yeah. And for recreation, took up skating.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when you came back out of the Navy, where did you live?
MR. MOLES: I came back out of the Navy, I lived in 125 West Gettysburg Avenue.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Who did you live with then?
MR. MOLES: My grandmother and mother.
MR. HUNNICUTT: When did you meet your wife?
MR. MOLES: Good question. We knew each other from days that she worked at the Community Store Number One in Jackson Square, but she went off to Atlanta to work. It wasn’t until we came back and there was just a crowd of us that would run around up at the Snow White, drive around the Snow White.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Tell us where the Snow White Drive-In was located.
MR. MOLES: Where the Snow White was? It was very close to the dental building, which is not there anymore.
MR. HUNNICUTT: That’s across the street from where the Chrysler dealership is now.
MR. MOLES: That’s right. It’s across the street from that.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember the name of the dry cleaners that was next door?
MR. MOLES: New York.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ahh, good memory. [Laughter]
MRS. MOLES: What’s his name that…?
MR. HUNNICUTT: Warren was his name that owned the dry cleaner.
MR. MOLES: Yeah.
MRS. MOLES: George Warren.
MR. HUNNICUTT: George Warren.
MR. MOLES: Yeah, but we ran around together as a group. We later sort of started dating ourselves and we dated for five years before we got married.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Want to make sure you knew each other.
MR. MOLES: Right. That’s exactly right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Or she knew you.
MR. MOLES: She didn’t know how to say yes until we got out of school.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when you talk about running around, what does that mean? Recreation, or just finding things to do.
MR. MOLES: We enjoyed going to plays.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where were the plays located?
MR. MOLES: In Crossville, most of them. Of course, they had plays and different things here in Oak Ridge. Ted Lehman [sp?]…
MRS. MOLES: Oak Ridge Playhouse.
MR. MOLES: … had, I forget what you call it. I can’t think of what you call it, but it’s sort of slapstick comedy in a lot of them.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yeah. So what were you doing for work at that time? Where did you work?
MR. MOLES: Well, I came out of the Navy and was going to school in the Navy at UT [University of Tennessee]. Then when my Navy ran out I went to Y-12 and started working at Y-12.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What did you do at Y-12?
MR. MOLES: I was a junior accountant and worked in payroll and…
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember what year that was?
MR. MOLES: I was in payroll, timekeeping payroll from 1952 to 1963, I guess. Something like that. Then I went to work for a fellow by the name of Clyde Hopkins in 1963.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I believe everyone knows Clyde Hopkins, that was in Oak Ridge.
MR. MOLES: He and I hired in about the same time. In fact, it was right up…
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when did you retire?
MR. MOLES:’93.
MR. HUNNICUTT: From Y-12?
MR. MOLES: No, from K-25. I worked for 42 years, 7 months and 13 days at the plants. Half of it was at Y-12 and half of it at K-25.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Were you in Oak Ridge during the 1949 gate opening ceremony?
MR. MOLES: Yes, I was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: As a matter of fact, you were on one of the floats that rode in the parade, is that right?
MR. MOLES: I was on one of the floats, yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Tell me about that float and what it was.
MR. MOLES: The float?
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yes.
MR. MOLES: The float was on the back of truck that belonged to Lacey Meyers who owned the skating rink. He owned several temporary rinks. In other words, they were just set up, put together. You could take them apart and move them to another town. That was all it was down on the corner, where the Citizens Bank is now.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The Turnpike and Jefferson.
MR. MOLES: The Turnpike and Jefferson. Close to the old Jefferson Cafeteria.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember that well. So you did a lot of skating in your younger days?
MR. MOLES: No. I just took it up after I come back out of the Navy.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Oh, I see.
MR. MOLES: Just, it was something to do, give me an outing.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So…
MR. MOLES: I was going to tell you when we were talking about the Snow White. It really wasn’t built as the Snow White. It was built for the, titled, named the Flingo.
MRS. MOLES: Flamingo.
MR. MOLES: Flamingo.
MR. HUNNICUTT: We’ve heard it as the Peacock. The Peacock.
MRS. MOLES: There was a Peacock and a Flamingo.
MR. MOLES: It was the Peacock.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The Peacock Lodge.
MR. MOLES: The Peacock Lodge.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The Peacock Lounge.
MR. MOLES: The Peacock Lounge, yeah. And there’s one off of where the Garden Apartments are now, on top of the hill. The L&A Club.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yes. Now I understand, talking about Snow White, that there was a gentleman that came by the Secret City Festival in ’08 and told us that, or it was a lady, that her father had named the Snow White. There was a contest that went on. Do you know anything about that? How the Snow White got its name, Snow White?
MR. MOLES: No, the man, John…
MRS. MOLES: Sparks owned it.
MR. MOLES: Sparks owned it. He had a whole bunch of Snow White dwarfs.
MRS. MOLES: He had some restaurants in Knoxville called the Dwarfs restaurants.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Right.
MR. MOLES: Yeah. And down there across, on the Turnpike was the Atoms Cafeteria.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Where was that located?
MR. MOLES: It was across the street from the Garden Apartments, down…
MR. HUNNICUTT: About where the Girls Club and that area is today.
MR. MOLES: A little farther east than that, but that’s where it was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Let’s go back to the parade and when you were on that float skating. How cold was it that day?
MR. MOLES: I didn’t notice it. I was skating.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, your partner that I interviewed, Fizz, said she like to froze to death before she got there.
MR. MOLES: It was cold. It was cold, but it didn’t bother me. It really didn’t bother me.
[Inaudible background talk]
MR. HUNNICUTT: It was March 19. So I noticed from the pictures, that you guys, everybody that was on the float did a circle swing around with each partner, some sort of skating maneuver. How hard was that to do on the back of that flatbed truck?
MR. MOLES: Well, no faster than they were, the parade was moving, it wasn’t any trouble. It’s a matter of balance to start with.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, that parade was about three miles long and I understand it was about two hours to do it.
MR. MOLES: Yeah. It was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I guess she was glad it was over.
MR. MOLES: I was glad that it was over. I was instrumental in starting the Ridge Roller Club, which those pictures we were looking at were… I appointed people to work on the float and it’s in a write up.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember who the truck driver was, or the float driver?
MR. MOLES: Not unless it was Ted… I don’t know. I really don’t know.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ok.
MR. MOLES: It was one of the skaters… What was Ted’s last name?
MRS. MOLES: [inaudible]
MR. MOLES: No, I can’t remember what Ted’s last name was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, maybe it’ll come to you. So after the parade commenced, did you have an opportunity to go to any of the other events that day?
MR. MOLES: No.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Pretty well tied up.
MR. MOLES: Tied up.
[Break in audio]
MR. HUNNICUTT: Ok. Now I’m going to interview the lady of the hour, Bill’s wife. Would you tell me your maiden name?
MRS. MOLES: Virginia Elrod Moles.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And when did you come to Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLES: In the fall of 1943.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And did you come with your parents?
MRS. MOLES: With my parents.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Did they come to work at Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLES: My dad was working here in Oak Ridge. He had come to Oak Ridge in ’42 with the surveyors Odessel [sp?] and Grove [sp?].
MR. HUNNICUTT: Interesting. Where did you live when you came to Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLES: We lived in trailer 6 on the hill where the Garden Apartments are.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What do you remember about the trailer camp number 6?
MRS. MOLES: The thing that is most vivid in my mind is that you had to go to a bath house to take your baths, you had to go to a bath house for all your other personal needs. No restrooms in those trailers. I mean no bathrooms in those trailers.
MR. HUNNICUTT: How many of you were in the trailer?
MRS. MOLES: My two parents and four children.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Wow! You kind of stacked up on each other when you slept then.
MRS. MOLES: We had what was called a double wide, but it’s really three times the width of a regular trailer.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So how long did you live in trailer camp number six?
MRS. MOLES: About a year, until they moved enough flattops in that my dad got us a flattop at 101 Indian Lane.
MR. HUNNICUTT: How big a flattop was that?
MRS. MOLES: It was a two bedroom flattop.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Still cramped for space.
MRS. MOLES: Still cramped for space.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, did you have indoor facilities in the flattop?
MRS. MOLES: We had indoor facilities in the flattop.
MR. HUNNICUTT: If I remember right, there was a round stove that sat kind of in the middle of the floor for heating, wasn’t there?
MRS. MOLES: Right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And air conditioning: you opened the doors and windows.
MRS. MOLES: Right, right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you lived on Indian Lane and what, were you going to school at that time?
MRS. MOLES: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What school did you attend?
MRS. MOLES: I attended Robertsville School, which became Jefferson Junior High and then it’s back now to Robertsville Junior High.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you attended the old Robertsville School…
MRS. MOLES: Elementary school, yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: …and they had, had they added on part of the section to that?
MRS. MOLES: They did after I started school there.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So, then it became Jefferson Junior High and you attended Jefferson Junior the whole time there?
MRS. MOLES: Yes. I went from the seventh through the ninth. It became a Junior High the year I was to go into the ninth grade. So I attended on through the ninth grade at the same school.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So then you went to the high school located in Jackson Square…
MRS. MOLES: Right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: …by the football field.
MRS. MOLES: Right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So did you ever work anytime you were in Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLES: I worked while I was in high school at Community Store number one, grocery store in Jackson Square.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What do you remember about working at Community Store number one? Anything odd happen, or strange?
MRS. MOLES: Not really. It was just always crowded. It was always very busy. Very busy.
MR. HUNNICUTT: There were rationing stamps for various things. Do you remember those?
MRS. MOLES: I think that had already gone. I don’t think we had to deal with that.
MR. HUNNICUTT: What was your job at the Community Store?
MRS. MOLES: I ran the cash register.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You remember how many cash registers there were?
MRS. MOLES: Well, there was six.
MR. MOLES: At least six.
MRS. MOLES: There were at least six, may be eight.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So you think there was six or eight check out lines in the store.
MRS. MOLES: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: When you first went in the door, the main door, which way did you go to go to the meat counter?
MRS. MOLES: It was in the back.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The very back.
MRS. MOLES: In the very back.
MR. HUNNICUTT: We’re trying to identify some inside shots of certain grocery stores.
MRS. MOLES: Yeah. I can see it exactly. You came in and you went around by the elevator type thing, and the meat counter was across the back. Produce was down on the end, which is where that coffee shop is now. The produce was down on that end.
MR. HUNNICUTT: It would be on the side of the…
MRS. MOLES: The doors were along where, on the side where the parking lot is in Jackson Square.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So, if you lived on Indian Lane and you worked at the Community Store in Jackson Square, that’s a pretty good piece away. How did you, did you ride the bus to get there?
MRS. MOLES: Rode number six bus.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Number six.
MRS. MOLES: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember what the fare was?
MRS. MOLES: One token. I don’t remember how much we paid for the tokens though. We’ve still got some of those. We still have some tokens.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Great. Is that the only place you worked?
MRS. MOLES: No. I worked at the telephone company later.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And where was the telephone company located then?
MR. MOLE: Close to the…
MRS. MOLE: Close to, what is now the new post office.
MR. HUNNICUTT: That is Milan Way.
MRS. MOLE: Is that Milan Way?
MR. MOLE: That is Milan Way.
MR. HUNNICUTT: The building was on Milan Way. What did you do for the telephone company?
MRS. MOLE: I was an operator.
MR. HUNNICUTT: An operator. So how long did you work for the telephone company?
MRS. MOLE: A little over seven years.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, the big question: where did you meet your husband?
MRS. MOLE: Like he said, we didn’t really meet, we just sort of got to know each other. We were never formally introduced, as far as really meeting each other. We just got to know each other through congregating down at the Snow White Drive-In.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You remember those good ol’ hamburgers they used to have at the Snow White?
MRS. MOLE: I sure do.
MR. HUNNICUTT: If I remember right there was a man that was a cook that worked behind the counter on the grill and they called him Red. Do you remember that, a cook by the name of Red?
MRS. MOLE: Yes.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I was just a little boy, but I used to go in there with my mother and he would really fix those little hamburgers.
MR. MOLE: He was a real slim…
MR. HUNNICUTT: Short, right.
MRS. MOLE: Nothing like those little Snow White hamburgers. Krystal don’t come anywhere close to what those…
MR. MOLE: The big difference is the onions.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, they used fresh meat. You remember they had a little round ball of meat, you got out of that cooler on the side and he would put it on there with a big gob, handful of onions and mash that down. Then they would put the buns on the top and steam the buns. Oh, I could just taste them now.
MRS. MOLE: You could smell them for…
MR. HUNNICUTT: They had pretty good plate lunches in there, if I remember right.
MR. MOLE: Yeah. They did. You know there wasn’t really but one restaurant, which was the Mayflower, that was around. The Elks got into the business and had a, it was down in East Village.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, the Oak Terrace had a restaurant in the bottom…
MR. MOLE: Oak Terrace.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember that pretty well.
MR. MOLE: You’re right.
MR. HUNNICUTT: A man named Rosco Stevens ran that.
MR. MOLE: He bought it out, a half out from Shoemaker to try to start Shoney’s.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Shaunbaugh [sp?].
MR. MOLE: Shoenbaun [sp?, different pronunciation].
MRS. MOLE: Shoenbaun.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Shoenbaun.
MR. MOLE: He was half interested and Shoemaker was half interested.
MRS. MOLE: He started, Shoenbaun started Shoney’s.
MR. MOLE: He was from West Virginia.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, you guys met in Oak Ridge and you chummed around with your pals and you finally got serious about each other. When did you get married?
MRS. MOLE: June 17, 1956 at Kern Memorial Methodist Church.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Isn’t that something? Did you remember that, Bill? [Laughter]
MR. MOLE: Seemed like…
MRS. MOLE: I’m glad you didn’t ask him that question.
MR. MOLE: I’m glad you didn’t ask me that question. [Laughter]
MR. HUNNICUTT: You would have been in the doghouse the rest of the day.
MR. MOLE: Anniversaries are awful hard to remember.
MRS. MOLE: 52 years this past June.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, that’s a great milestone. So you got married at Kern and where did you live?
MRS. MOLE: We lived at 104 Robin Lane for 10 years.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And what type of house was that?
MRS. MOLE: It was called a Title Nine house. It’s still there.
MR. MOLE: We bought the house, but rented the land.
MRS. MOLE: We couldn’t buy the land that it set on.
MR. MOLE: We leased the land.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember them building those. They called them East Village and West Village houses, but they were Title Nine. That was the correct name. So you couldn’t buy the land. When were you able to buy the land?
MR. MOLE: Three or four years later. I don’t remember exactly. It was two or three years later. They opened it up for you to buy land.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Give me the date again that you bought the house.
MRS. MOLE: We actually bought the house in February of ’56 before we got married in June of ’56. And we lived there 10 and a half years. Then we moved to 114 East Geneva Lane. We lived there almost 25, I guess 24 years. And we moved to 130 Whippoorwill Drive. That’s where we now reside.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So when you lived on East Geneva, what type of cemesto house was that?
MRS. MOLE: D.
MR. HUNNICUTT: A D house.
MR. MOLE: It was, a little historic fact on that. B.B Hopkins…
MR. HUNNICUTT: B.B. Hopkins lived in it before you did?
MRS. MOLE: Yes. It was the old B.B. Hopkins home.
MR. MOLE: We got some fellow that bought it and remodeled the whole thing.
MRS. MOLE: It was an enlarged D house.
MR. MOLE: In doing so, he went bankrupt. We picked it up from the…
MRS. MOLE: Bank.
MR. MOLE: …Bank of Oak Ridge.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So, the person that did all the remodeling went belly up and you were able to pick it up.
MR. MOLE: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Oh, that’s good. So how many children do you guys have?
MRS. MOLE: We have two. We have a son. I guess he’s 51 years old now. His name is William Amon Moles II. We have a daughter, Melissa Lee Moles Neusel.
MR. MOLE: You ever heard the word Neusel?
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yes, I have. I sure have. I believe I know exactly who you’re talking about.
MRS. MOLE: David Neusel, our son-in-law.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So how many grandchildren do you have?
MRS. MOLE: We have only one grandson, one grandchild, a grandson, and it’s our son’s. Jackson Lee Moles.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do they live, do each one of them live in the area?
MRS. MOLE: They both live in West Knoxville, both our daughter and our son.
MR. HUNNICUTT: So thinking back about the early days of Oak Ridge, what do you remember vivid about Oak Ridge? What did you not like?
MRS. MOLE: What did I not like? Well, I didn’t like having to get out in all the mud that was everywhere. I couldn’t get it out of the house. You couldn’t get it out of the car. It was just mud everywhere. We had these big bulldozers just sitting around to pull people out of the mud. You were going to get stuck every time you went out, in the car, for sure. Those big bulldozers were just parked around so they could pull you out of the mud when you got stuck.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Speaking of cars, what was the first car you had while you were in Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLE: My dad’s car?
MR. HUNNICUTT: No, the first car that you two guys had as a couple.
MR. MOLE: I had bought a red convertible from Lacey Meyers who owned the skating rink. He had the Pontiac dealership in Hazzard, Kentucky, and I bought it. So we had that when, she had bought a ’55 Nash Rambler.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Did you buy it in Oak Ridge?
MRS. MOLE: I bought it in Oak Ridge, brand new.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Do you remember the name of the dealership you bought it from?
MRS. MOLE: No, but I remember how much I paid for it: $1,700.
MR. HUNNICUTT: And what year would that have been?
MRS. MOLE: 1955.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Would that have been Crowe and O’Connor Motors, by any chance?
MRS. MOLE: I bet it was, yes.
MR. MOLE: Yes.
MRS. MOLE: Yes. That rings a bell, but I wouldn’t have, I didn’t remember it.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Mr. O’Connor lived next to me.
MRS. MOLE: Did he?
MR. HUNNICUTT: We grew up together, his son and I, his kids.
MRS. MOLE: That’s who it was.
MR. MOLE: That’s who it was.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, I thank you very much for you memories and history. Is there anything else you would like to talk about related to early Oak Ridge?
MR. MOLE: No, except that, there is nothing about Oak Ridge I don’t like. Something I disagree with, but as far as not liking it…
MRS. MOLE: It’s home to me because I came here as a 12-year-old.
MR. MOLE: I have no desire to move out and go… I have more friends that moved out and then move back, than moved out and stayed, I believe.
MR. HUNNICUTT: One other quick question: what do either of you remember about coming through the gates? Do you remember anything about passes or anything of that nature?
MRS. MOLE: We still have, I still have my last pass, badge to get in and out of the gates. I still have it.
MR. MOLE: I worked for the theaters for a while, when Mr. Belvel [sp?] was manager. When they closed, they closed the Jefferson down. I managed the Grove, night managed the Grove, not business, just being there and managing activity. I was involved when we opened the theater to the blacks. I was the manager who was letting them in the theater.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Interesting. Interesting.
MRS. MOLE: Scary.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I bet.
MR. MOLE: He was an Oak Ridger. He was on the council, and the name of the movie was Exodus.
MR. HUNNICUTT: I remember when they had the protest down at Jefferson, at the laundrymat there.
MR. MOLE: Yeah. I’ve got some, we’ve got some eight millimeter film on that.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, those are times that go through the changes in life. Oak Ridge wasn’t exempt from any of it.
MR. MOLE: No. No, it wasn’t, but people get mad at it and I guess sort of snub their nose at Oak Ridgers and all. I wouldn’t move for anything.
MRS. MOLE: One thought that comes to mind when we first came to Oak Ridge and lived in Trailer Camp Six. On Saturday mornings, they furnished a bus that would bring in all the kids to the Grove Theater and for nine cents you could see a movie trailer. I guess you would call it, because it was a… I guess you would call it, what was it when…?
MR. MOLE: Serial.
MRS. MOLE: When they carried it from one week to the next.
MR. MOLE: Show to show.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Right. It’s a serial film.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Yeah.
MR. HUNNICUTT: You saw part and came the next week.
MRS. MOLE: Came the next week and seen another part.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Right.
MRS. MOLE: Of course, it was always really crowded because all the kids would pile on those buses and bring them down to the theater. For nine cents, you could get in and see. They would usually have some other things going on other than that, but cartoons and that was the main thing.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Well, you know Oak Ridge was a secure place and parents let their kids go places like you’re talking about. No one was worried about murder and theft.
MR. MOLE: Oh no.
MR. HUNNICUTT: Although those things happened, you didn’t, you weren’t worried about it.
MR. MOLE: There was very seldom anything that was contrary to our passive life. You just, it was just normal to do whatever you wanted to do, go wherever you wanted to go.
MRS. MOLE: We lived in the flattop at 101 Indian Lane for 10 and a half years, I guess. It may have been longer than that. I guess it was like 15 years, more like 15, and so far as I know, we never…
[End of Interview]